As the recovery continues. There's a bunch of stuff on this but they don't all warrant their own threads so here's a compendium of economic information.

The economy last year experienced a net-improvement of 2.17 million jobs (private sector gained 2.24), which is better than every single year of the Bush Presidency except one (2005).

The jobs report of the fourth quarter of 2012 has been revised upward, now saying we added 600,000+ jobs from October through December.

The GDP actually contracted 0.1% in that quarter, however. The first contraction in 13 quarters -- though revisions will probably change that to a slight expansion -- largely because of Hurricane Sandy and vast layoffs in the defense sector.

The initial estimate is that we added 157,000 jobs in January. The unemployment rate actually jumped, however, from 7.8% to 7.9%. As the economy gets better, more people are entering the job market.

The government continues to be the main holder-backer of a faster recovery, as reduced government payrolls have weighed down employment figures.

The Institute for Supply Management said its index of Manufacturing activity grew to 53.1, according to the Institute for Supply Management, which is a big jump up.

__________________“With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion"
Steven Weinberg~

This thread could have easily been titled 'Economy shrinks as unemployment rises, but the Obama recovery is still officially working because our heads are in the sand'.

The economy shrank only temporarily -- even economists aren't concerned, and the stock market remains high. The shrinking in the economy, as the OP stated, was due to Sandy hitting the Northeast and a huge slashing in defense.

The economy shrank only temporarily -- even economists aren't concerned, and the stock market remains high. The shrinking in the economy, as the OP stated, was due to Sandy hitting the Northeast and a huge slashing in defense.

Which is a symptom and just more proof this is the worst 'recovery' on record.

Any gains in jobs is just as more likely to be from the comeback of the McRibb than anything Obama can take credit for.

We are experiencing the retiring of the baby boomers. We'll be experiencing record numbers of retirements for a generation.

For the small percentage of people who are aware that the purported decline in unemployment rates is primarily based on the mysterious rapid decline in "labor force participation rates" rather than the number of new jobs, the government has a ready and sensible-sounding explanation: the Boomers are beginning to retire in large numbers, and with an aging population, the percentage of adults who are in the workforce should logically be declining.

Based on in-depth analysis of the government's own numbers, we will present herein the true picture: 74% of the jobless who have been removed from unemployment calculations are in the 16-54 age bracket, with only 26% in the 55 and above bracket. Yes, the population is aging - but the heart of the workforce participation deception isn't about the old.